Uncompressed HD and Ultra-HD Video Streaming Using Terahertz Wireless Communications

Abstract

Taming the Terahertz waves (100 GHz-10 THz) is considered the next frontier in wireless communications. While components for the ultra-high bandwidth Terahertz wireless communications were in rapid development over the past several years, however, their commercial availability is still lacking. Nevertheless, as we demonstrate in this work, due to recent advances in the microwave and infrared photonics hardware, it is now possible to assemble high performance hybrid THz communication systems for real-life applications. We present design and performance evaluation of the photonics-based Terahertz wireless communication system for the transmission of uncompressed 4K video feed that is built using all commercially available system components. The Terahertz carrier frequency is fixed at 138 GHz and the system is characterized by measuring the bit error rate for the pseudo random bit sequences at 5.5 Gbps. By optimizing the link geometry and decision parameters, an error-free (BER<10−10) transmission at a link distance of 1m is achieved. Finally, we detail integration of a professional 4K camera into the THz communication link and demonstrate live streaming of the uncompressed HD and 4K video followed by analysis of the link quality.